(The Center Square) – In Georgia, state income taxes provide nearly half of the government’s revenue, making lawmakers’ perennial promise to eliminate the burden on workers hard to fulfill.
And doing so without addressing property taxes would “be incomplete,” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said Tuesday.
The Senate Study Committee to Eliminate Georgia’s Income Tax, authorized by Jones, is expected to hold one more meeting before completing a final report. Lawmakers have not specified how they plan to compensate for the lost revenue if the income tax is eliminated.
“We haven’t heard from any of the proponents how they would actually pay for this and so it’s very difficult to have a full conversation with that central detail missing,” said Dr. Daniel Kanso, director of legislative strategy and senior fiscal analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy, in an interview with The Center Square.
Jones said in a commentary published in the Washington Examiner that a “practical phased approach” is needed that doesn’t increase sales, gas or food taxes. Property taxes are out of control, he said.
“We need a dual approach that phases out the income tax while enacting reforms that control property tax growth and bring much needed transparency,” Jones said in the commentary. “School boards and counties shouldn’t get a free ride on rising home values and should be transparent and responsible when they raise taxes on hardworking homeowners.”
Georgia does not have a state property tax. Counties, cities and local boards of education levy property taxes. When asked by The Center Square what Jones is proposing to address property taxes, a spokesperson said a plan would be released in early 2026.
In the commentary, Jones said, “There is plenty of work to do on these efforts, from expanding homestead exemptions to transparency on local taxation. But rising property taxes are not an excuse to do nothing on income taxes. Doing both gives families the relief they need and ensures that local governments can plan responsibly and fairly.”
Democrats said that eliminating the state’s income tax would increase taxes on the middle class and give rich people a “handout.”
“This handout will make raising a family, buying a house or running a business more expensive, said Sens. Nan Orrock, D–Atlanta and Ed Harbison, D–Columbus, who are members of the Senate Study Committee to Eliminate Georgia’s Income Tax. “At the end of the day, they’re making the affordability crisis worse and saying they’re doing you a favor. Democrats on this committee are appalled by this wrongheaded, disastrous proposal.”
Georgia’s neighbors to the north and south, Tennessee and Florida, do not have an income tax.
“Nine other states have already figured out how to eliminate their income tax. Georgia should too,” Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said previously in an email to The Center Square. Tillery chairs the committee and is running for lieutenant governor.
Six of the nine states without an income tax receive more than 50% of their revenue from sales taxes, according to a report by Kanso. Georgia gets 27% of its revenue from sales tax and 48% from the income tax.
Without the income tax, Georgia’s healthy fiscal outlook could turn upside down, Kanso said.
